Bacolod - Philippines
19th JuneI was awoken by the sound of cockerels at 5 am, but still managed to doze until about 10am. We truly are spoilt here, they are always cleaning up after us and there is food and fresh juices constantly being made. I wasn't even allowed to clear the table after dinner, it really is a different way of life. We all boarded the Jeepney and took Joshua to school, the kids were amazed by the two white girls in the play ground, then Fatima took us shopping. We went to a mall and then 'down town' to the markets, we were hassled a lot, but everyone seemed friendly and I felt safe being with a local. Jenna and I both found ourselves another pair of shorts (for about 6 pounds) and we all enjoyed lasagna for lunch. It rained heavily all day, but I know that I need to get used to this as we are going to be travelling through the rainy season for the next two months! We all went out that evening for a few drinks. We spent most of the evening in a bar called 'chicken Alley' that looked like a castle, where we could enjoy some live bands and watch the teams of 15 year old prostitutes strutting about outside. We also found a Mexican bar to have another drink before heading home. It was a good night and the company was great too.
20th June
We got an early wake-up from Jenna's cousin, Brian as he pounded on our door. He had just got back from England, laden-ed with gifts for a very excited Joshua. It was nice to meet the man of the house. We went with him to take Joshua to school, Don't got me wrong we still got starred at , but it was nice to be walking with a big white male. No men seemed to hassle us, and he seemed to get more attention than us, which was nice! It again rained all afternoon - so much for that tan that I have been dreaming of!
We went back to their house and went along with him while he visited a few friends, giving them their much appreciated gifts from England. We then went back and all relaxed with a couple of beers while he told us about what had been happening in England over the pat ten months. It is so strange to think that I am missing it all.
21st June - Negros Museum
We were up with the cockerels this morning at 4.30 in order to join Fatima at her aerobics class. We had to catch too Jeepneys to get there and when we arrived at the park there were loads of people there, men, women, old and young. Everyone began by jogging a few times around the large square pond and then we all gathered in a huge area of the park. Music boomed from the trees and we all watched 3 men on stage and tried to copy their dancing and aerobic moves. It was really fun and pretty easy to follow and I really enjoyed the music. At about 70 be grabbed our self a "Buko juice" (water-nut) and headed home. It was roasting hot by the time we arrived home, now I can understand why they have to star off so early. We had some breakfast and then as the sun was shining, decided to make the most of it and clamber on to the roof for some rays. By about 9.30 it was simply too unbearable. I can't believe how hot I got, so we opted to going into the air conditioned house to read our books.
That afternoon after dropping Joshua at school, as the rain pored, we found our way to 'Negros Museum' The place was built in 1987 and was all about the Negrenese. A lovely girl showed us round and recounted stories, artifacts, artwork and crafts. She told us all about their rich history and the science behind their thriving sugar cane industry. There were many paintings all by a man from Bacolod and we were told all about the influences that other countries such as China. America, Spain, Japan and even Britain had had on their island. The best story I heard was about the revolution in 1898, whereby they were planning war against the Spanish, but didn't have the money for the weapons they needed. Therefor they made replica cannons and guns out of bamboo and leaves and pained them black. When the Spanish say them they retreated. So in the end the Negrenese won, with out having to battle, using their very cleaver idea. Pretty funny really.
After that Jenna and I spend a couple of hours in the pc room and then headed home for a traditional English meal of pork chops, potatoes, vegetables and real gravy. It was much appreciated. I then made a phone call to my Mum and Brian (who I miss terribly) and headed to bed for a nice early night :)
Manila - Philippines (part two)
As we didn't go to bed until this morning, we were very thankful of our dark room and slept until about 1 o'clock. We then dragged ourselves out of bed to make our way to Rizal park. We plucked up our courage and decided to take the Jeepney, it only cost 7 pence each to get all the way into Manila center, because we were while they tried to charge us 10, but I was and am determined not to be taken advantage of anymore! it was pretty funny actually to be squashed between god known how many sweaty Filipinos on their way to work or what ever they were doing, people just jump on at any point, there is no bus stops and the jump of when ever the Jeepney slows in traffic, ofter almost getting hit by cars, I was gritting my teeth most of the way hoping that no one would get run over.
When we arrived we decided to have a look around the Japanese gardens, we paid 5 pence to get in bet were utterly unimpressed. It was filthy, most of the flowers were dead, there was a very filthy pond, where no fish could possibly live and a few tramps had climbed in over the wall for some peace and quiet. We left quite quickly and continued to wander around the park, checking out the statues and taking breaks to drink our water by the ponds, there was a phenomenal number of people around, so Jenna and I were the usual attraction, getting stared at and heckled everywhere we went. I am still so surprised that in this busy center there are no foreigners.
We made our way to the bay area with the plan to sit in the shade and wait for the sunset but there was a lot of construction going on so we realised that we probably wouldn't see much, as we turned to go and find another viewing spot we were approached by a man in a carriage being pulled by a manky looking horse. We had been told that the carriage tours are good but to make sure they are only going to charge you twenty pesos, not 20 dollars. I triple checked that it would only cost twenty pesos and the man agreed, telling us of all the things we would see so we excitedly climbed on board. He showed us a statue of the ex-Philippine president and round the other side of the park and then headed onto the main road, staying that he would take us to China Town. He then mentioned, that that would be a extra 200 pesos. I quickly said "No, you said 20 pesos, we were not paying more than that, just show us what you would for 20 pesos" He wasn't having any of it, he continued to say how sick his horse was and how we had agreed 800 pesos. I was ready to get off at this point but we were trapped in behind the man on a moving carriage on a main road and we really had no idea where we were. Suddenly he turned off the main road in to a very poor slums area. There were filthy people in hardly any clothes on everywhere. I felt like I was in the movie 'Dawn of the Dead' where by everyone turned and walked to us, muttering things that I couldn't understand and their hands out for money. At this point Jenna and I started to get nervous, but we didn't want to show it. I zipped away my camera and grasped onto my bag very tightly. Children were jumping up and trying to touch our white skins. Then I looked to my side and saw a man looking up at me with beady little eyes. As soon as I saw him he seemed to panic and lunged for my bag, which was across my body. My reactions were quick and I grabbed his robbing hand and I dug my nails into it as hard as i could, thankfully he soon let go, I had his skin under my nails and was pretty freaked out. My heart was pounding and i was close to tears, our driver again said "200 pesos?' and Jenna replied with "Whatever, just take us back to the park, now" I was so relieved to leave that area, even though the horse was bolting and bucking all the way. Once we were safely back in the park or driver moved aside we managed to get off. I then refused to pay him more than 20 pesos, and said what a bad person he was. In the end we stormed off with out giving him a penny. We decided from this moment on we would wear our money belts under our shirts with all our valuables and we wouldn't trust anyone. We couldn't face catching the Jeepeney home, we just got into a taxi. Everyone was making me jump and I was clutching my bag so tightly my fingers were almost blue, there are people with knives and guns everywhere. i was glad to get into my room. That night as I laid my head on my Micky mouse pillow that evening all I could see was the robbers beady little eyes, I hope I never have to experience something like that again anytime soon.
16th June 2007 -Pagsanjan falls
We got up this morning at 6.30 and headed out into the country again. We decided to eat breakfast this time, so on the journey we ate a mouldy cheese roll each, that actually tasted nothing like cheese and shared a packet of bread sticks. The journey was only supposed to take 2 hours but ended up taking more like 3 because of the dreadful traffic, but the further we got into the country the more Paradise unfolded. When we arrived at Pagsanjan falls we were shown to a canoe, with two men in it (one at each end) and we were to sit in the middle. The first bit of the journey we got towed up the river. We passed rice paddies, with water buffalo pulling along carts, women washing their clothes and small riverside villages with kids playing and washing in the water. Our tow boat soon left and the men in our boat began to paddle. The river was small and winding in some parts, others were open and wide and parts were surrounded by dense forest or shear cliff face. It really was beautiful and so relaxing. I saw a few iguanas, some turtles basking in the sun and hundreds of electric blue and green dragonflies and brightly coloured butterflies. Our boat men informed us that if you come to the river early in the morning you often see monkeys, I kept my eyes peeled but sadly I think that it was too hot for them. They also told us that many large eels lived in the river, some as big as 60 k, I kept my fingers crossed that I wouldn't see one of those or that we wouldn't capsize!!!
At the rocky parts of the river the men had to actually get out of the boat and push it up the rocks, I felt so lazy but, they do this trip most days so were extremely strong. When we arrived at the waterfalls there was the option to go under it and explore the caves the other-side, most people were declining the offer, Jenna and I couldn't understand why and were ecstatic at the idea that we could go into the falls. We boarded a raft and off we went. As we passed under the waterfall I couldn't believe it, It was absolute agony as the watter pummelled against every part of out body pulling our shorts and t.shirts down in the process. I couldn't believe it, I felt like I was being bombarded with rocks. Once we eventually got to the other-side we understood why most people, had sensibly, stayed safely at the side of the river. We had a look around the caves and then it was time to go back. This time the raft man persuaded us that it would less painful if we lay down on the raft. He clearly found the whole situation hilarious. I will tell you, it certainly was no less painful. This time it was my face that was submerged in water and pummeled against the wood. It was all good fun and very beautiful, but probably something I won't be too keen to do again. My t.shirt was utterly ruined and my shorts were stretched out of shape and my hair looked like one big dread-lock but I still enjoyed the journey back.
It was mid-day as we headed back down the river, this time it was far more crowded. This time with boat loads of Koreans. I think they are following us. They were covered from head to toe in rain coats and were holding umbrellas in their gloved hands, so as not to get any sun on them or even worse to get wet! They were surprised as they passed us and we cheerily shouted 'hello, how are you?' in Korean. We passed a group of young boys dancing on the river side and listening to music, they were delighted when Jenna blew them a kiss. It seems such a lovely and peaceful way of life to be living as they did. Out of the hustle and bustle of Manila, and they seemed to have everything they needed. Everyone looked so happy and gave such a pleasant vibe. It was definitely what we needed after the horrendous 'attempted robbery' incident yesterday.
When we got back to the beginning we joined a few other Koreans for a very Korean influenced lunch, including Kimchi (something I haven't yet missed) We gave our boat man a forty pence tip (a fortune to them) and headed home. We spent a couple of ours in the PC room trying to update our blogs and replying to emails and had an early night.
17th June 2007 -Intrmuros
We had had such a fantastic day yesterday but I was still haunted by the incident that happened the day before so I must say the thought of heading back into Manila was somewhat daunting. Never the less we headed into town to visit the famous "Inramuros". We walked around Fort Santiago, which is one of the oldest fortifications in Manila, built back in 1571 (although it has been rebuilt again numerous times since then because of wars demolishing it etc. We also looked around a Museum about Jose. P. Rizal, who basically inspired Filipinos and organised a peaceful revolution against the then Spanish rulers, among many other fantastic things. We also looked around a chapel and a cathedral, where we were lucky enough to see a traditional wedding going on. Inside these buildings they were very beautiful, however outside they were filthy and so badly maintained, I still can't believe they let their buildings in such a state! After a long walk around everything we could find and along the city walls, we looked at our watches and realised that it was 4 o;clock and we hadn't eaten a thing, or even had a sip of water, we darted for the first place we could find and had a salad, then were still hungry so had a burger and chips each too.
We then felt a lot better and headed to 'Bay walk', I watched nervously around me of any men in carriages being pulled along by a manky white horse and was relieved when we got there. I felt safe there, it was a totally different calibre of people. They actually wore shoes, had on clean clothes and even had bags. There were still no foreigners but I felt we could blend in a lot easier. We found a space to sit on the wall and waited until the sun went down. The sunset across the bay was beautiful, reds, pinks and oranges filled the sky. I wondered to myself where in the world the sun would just be rising up in.
That evening Jenna and I decided to go back to the 'Hobbit bar' (our favourite place so far), we were greeted with a warm welcome by the dwarfs that we had been talking to a couple of nights previously. They were happy to pose for a few pictures with us. When I stood up, most of them didn't even reach my waist line, now I know they are short and I am tall, but still, I felt like a real giant! We shared another traditional Filipino dish, called 'Chicken Adobo' served with rice, again it was delicious. I do really like Filipino food, maybe that is because I got so sick of Korean.
We got chatting to Edward the dwarf (from last time) and he was able to explain about why we were hearing so many different words in the Filipino language. He said it was because throughout the Philippines and on the islands they have more than 20 different languages, with influences from many other countries, like Spain, Japan and Korea. They all write in romanized alphabets but it can be very confusing, so many of them speak in English. So to make sure that everyone can understand, signs, announcements, menus, adverts and all those sorts of things are in English (which is grate for us) Thant explains why everyone we speak to can speak to us and why we hear them using English to each other. (despite their very strong accents).
After a little while we realised that we were the only people in the bar, so despite the good company and nice music we decided to head back to 'Bay walk' to see if anything was going on there. When we arrived we saw that that was definitely the place to go, it was lively any each bar had a band or some kind of entertainment going on. As we walked along deciding where to have our next drink we saw a stage full of me dressed up as babies dancing on the stage. It looked a little disturbing, but were were intrigued, before long we were ushered in and placed at a table right by the stage. It was all very strange to be honest. At one point a little boy came on stage to dance too and as he danced his nappy fell down so by the end of it he was actually naked, I'm sure the police would be called if something like this happened in England. As usual we were soon made a spectacle of, the announcer on the stage poined out the two "white chicks" and proceeded to tell everyone how great it was that we had come here and how generous white people are. Then the little boy came round to collect money for their performance. The spot light was on my as I put about 6 pence into his bucket. There was more performances but a little deformed man, and groups of awkward looking teenagers, after not too long Jenna and I managed to sneak out and head home.
18th June -Goodbye Manila, hello Negros.
We spent the morning sorting out all of our stuff and packing our large bags again. I was not amused to find that my pile of clothes had been lying in an ants nest all week but was happy to be leaving Manila. We went for some lunch. Chicken teriyaki, rice, mixed vegetables and a coke all for less than 40 pence and then headed to the airport. I can't say that I will miss manila, but it has certainly been an experience.
As we drove through the badly maintained and busy streets I watched all the armed guards everywhere, outside the Mcdonalds, or the Newsagents, (basically if you miss-behave you just get shot and that is that). I was also informed of another disturbing policy, whereby if you are hit by a car, both taxi drivers and bus drivers are told to run back over you and make sure you are dead, because it would be their duty to pay any hospital bills, any they wouldn't be able to afford it. Also there are rumors that if you wear any jewelry that looks decent they will rip it off you, including cutting off finger to get off rings, people here just seem so desperate and that has made them ruthless. It is scary, but also sad that a people have to do such dreadful things. I also felt sad as I saw once again all the poverty, all the stray animals, and the naked kids sifting through rubbish covered in rashes and no doubt riddled with disease. This is definitely a county with two huge extremes, while the rich get richer the poor are definitely getting poorer. I hope that they begin to realise this and start sorting their country out.
When we arrived at the airport, we were informed that we were not allowed ANY liquids at all, so we spent a couple or minutes trying to shove out deodorants, lip balms and drinks into the top of our back packs then went to the departure lounge, with its two small shops to find that our plane had been delayed of over an hour. I couldn't wait to get to Bacolod, in the small island of Negros. I also hoped that it wouldn't be so hot there. Apparently it had been 39 degrees, all week!!!!! It was all an experience and as you know we saw some beautiful volcanoes, some amazing waterfalls and found the cutest bar that I have ever been. Also we were taught the hard way about the importance of carrying our money belts, but I can safely say I won't be going back again. I am excited to move on but I actually miss the safeness and trustworthiness of Korean people!
When we eventually got to Bacolod, we realised that Jenna's cousin's (also called Brian) wife had been waiting for about four hours for us, we felt dreadful, especially that the flight took less than an hour as it was. The airport was crazy. You step off the plane and immediately you see a small bus stop where your bags gt piled and that is it. Now I thought Manila airport was small, but I never imagined anything like it. We all boarded their own Jeepney and headed back to their house. Jenna's cousin lives with his wife (Fatima) their gorgeous little boy (Joshua), their cute dog (Snoopy) and then Fatima's brother, sister, two cousins and another helper all live there too to help around the house. The grand parents also live just down the road. It really is lovely. Jenna and i were shown to our HUGE bed in a room with air conditioning and then all sat down for a lovely dinner. The place is in the middle of nowhere, and definitely cooler with out all the traffic and so quiet, apart from all the frogs, crickets and wild dogs outside. As I snuggled down into my cool bed that evening I watched the lizards on the ceiling and knew that I would be happy there!
Manila - Philippines
12th June 2007
Leaving Korea was almost one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do, saying goodbye to my amazing teachers, friends, beautiful Kids and of course my lovely boyfriend.
My flight wasn't until 10.20 but I was being very organised and actually arrived at the airport at 7.15 so had hours to wait before I could even meet Kat and Jenna, when we eventually met, checked in, we said our goodbyes to Kat and off we went to departure lounge. We flew with Qantas and the flight was luxury, we even had steak for lunch, after a stop off in Hong Kong we boarded back on the plane and got served yet another meal and then after a nice sleep arrived in Bangkok. We had about 9 hours to wait until our connecting flight and there was no where to go near the airport so we just wondered up and down, trying out different uncomfortable chairs, stopping for drinks, trying to read our books or using the computers (where we had to stand and they were the slowest crappiest things that I have ever used) Eventually at 1 am in the morning we were able to check in, we were so excited. It took forever though, the ques were horrendous. The most fun was listening to an English man (from Somerset) talking to his son, and we could actually understand. I felt like I was ear wigging, but it was hard not to as I have been in a country for ten months where people are talking all around me and I have no idea what they are saying. Also listening to a child and actually finding out the sort of things they talk about. I always used to wonder what my kids in Korea would natter to each other about! This flight was with cebu pacific, and certainly nothing like our last flights, my seat was broken and we even had to pay for a glass of water. Nevertheless, I slept most of the way and we were in the Philippines in no time.
13th June 2007
It was 6am here when we arrived in the Philippines, and already as hot as hell, nothing was open yet in the airport, but we got our baggage no problems and managed to get a taxi to our accommodation in Sampaloc (Manila). It was so strange to look out of the window and be able to read all the signs. It is very much how I imagined it would be, old ill-maintained buildings everywhere, with peeling posters and chipped paint, there was rubbish everywhere and homeless people all the way down the street. The people here also seem much more different, all scantily clad, and women with baggy t.shirts, no blouses, no makeup and no heels (unheard of in Korea) That made me feel a little more comfortable with my make up fee face, in my shorts and sweaty t.shirt! When we eventually found our place the "windsor Inn" It is an extremely badly converted mansion. As I walked past open doors seeing naked people sprawled everywhere, I was surprised to find an extremely small room, with ONE equally small bed, with no glass in the widows. The bathroom was also interesting, with only cold water, no toilet seat or toilet paper and a bucket to wash with(shared with 7 people)! Oh well we can't complain for less than two quid a night and it is reasonably clean and the staff seem nice! Once we had got into our room I decided to have a wonder around the place, A couple of rooms away I found another room which was a bit larger than ours and only had one small window so was much darker, all we wanted to do was sleep so we went down to see if we could swap, which we did. We had a quick wash and then went to bed for a few hours, in our boiling hot room with an extremely noisy fan.
When we got up it was about 3 in the afternoon, we went down stairs and caught a taxi to the tourism office, so we could get more of an idea of what we could do for the next 6 days. When we got there we realised that the taxi driver totally ripped us off, charging us 2.50 pesos instead of what is should be, only 80 pesos...first learning experience! The lady in the tourism building was very helpful and told us some interesting places we should go, what to watch out for, how much to pay for things and how to catch the Jeepney's (a battered bus thing) Through her we then organised ourselves a trip for the next day to go on a trek to some volcanoes. We then found our way to a nearby mall, where we could change our flight for the following Monday to Negros (the island where Jenna's cousin lives) We had to wait for about 3 hours in the queue, but got it changed no problems. We then wandered around the mall and found a nice little place to eat, for only about 1 pound 20 each, It was nice, apart from the unwelcome guests of cockroaches! We struggled to get back, we couldn't find a place to catch the Jeepney's and all the taxis we full, but eventually a nice old man helped us out and we got a taxi back to our place. This time the price was what it should have been.
Summery of my first day is that I have never sweated so much in my life, honestly I feel I could almost die, seriously. It is not just the heat, it is the smog and pollution and the incredible number of people. Last week the temperature was 39 degrees, thankfully today it was 34, but still far to hot for me. Manila is very poor and NO tourists anywhere, lots of beggars and EVERYONE stares at you and tries to get money off you, however it had been so interesting, they speak a combination of Spanish, English and Korean and call that Filipino, it is very, very weird to hear conversations where you can pick out different words from three languages!
14th June 2007
Jenna and I got up early today, It was so hot in our room, even at 6am I was dripping with sweat, I walked outside for some air, but the Inn is right behind a busy gas station and on the corner of an incredibly busy cross roads so it was actually hotter out there. I was pleased to have my wash in cold water and we set off at 7.30.
It took about two hours to get to the country, we shared a bag of Cheetos for breakfast (very sensible). When we arrived we had to catch a boat across a large lake to reach the base of the Volcano we were to Hike. Our boat man told us that often the fish all die in the lake because of the sulphur release from the volcano. When we got off the boat, there were lots of little girls trying to sell us bottles of water and hats for our Hike and there was also the option to take a horse up too, we declined and went on our way. By this time it was only about 10 o'clock in the morning but it was still incredibly hot and humid, it was nice to not have all the smog and fumes from the road but, this was replaced by the thick dust from all the horses scrambling up the volcano. After a lot of sweating and some damn hard work we stopped for a break. Jenna almost passed out, and felt really sick and faint. I think that it was a bad idea to climb like this with nothing but a few Cheetos in our stomachs. Thankfully a lady approached us selling cold cokes, from this we gained the energy to reach the top. It was wee worth it when we did, it was absolutely beautiful. We could see two huge lakes either side of the volcano and the third 'lake' was inside the volcano. You could actually see the water bubbling and steaming from where we were, we were told that it was extremely hot and sulphuric and that no plants or animals could possibly live there. We were also told that its last eruption was in 1911 and that it killed thousands of people from all of the surrounding villages. The trek down was much easier, despite the sun being higher in the sky and far more people on horses all around. I couldn't believe how many Koreans there were, all covered up as usual. Apparently, the majority of the Philippines tourists are Korean....we can't get away! ha ha.
We got taken back across the lake the other side and enjoyed a delicious meal of spicy chicken, fresh fish and a liver and vegetable stir fry. We sat four hours in the shade enjoying the beautiful surroundings and breathing in all the fresh air. We then had the opportunity to have a wash, I was absolutely filthy, my legs looked like they were covered in black fir with all the dust stuck to them and when I blew my nose, my tissue was literally filthy. Just as we jumped in to the van to get home the heavens opened, and it absolutely chucked it down. The road turned into a river and vehicles wer slipping about all over the place, at some points, the wheels were half covered with water. I couldn't quite believe my eyes. Thankfully it stopped before we had to get out.
Before going out for dinner we decided to have a walk around our area. We went down an interesting street called Lechon road, where there was nothing but pigs on spits everywhere. Apparently that was their speciality. We wanted to try some but we were still full from lunch so we will definitely come back. It was hilarious to see men on bikes dragging huge pigs, on sticks behind them, as they drove through the streets. Although I was slightly off put by seeing all the pig heads, reminded me or something like lord of the flies. We continued on, running across all the bust streets until we found some residential area which looked pretty much like the slums. Children would run up to us wanting to touch our white skin and asking for money, man would holler and women would just stair, but the atmosphere was actually OK. We saw a huge group of people playing bingo in the street, but I was disturbed by all the poor animals in cages, stray dogs and cats and decided to head home when we witnessed to man organising a cock (chicken) fight! We came back to had wash some of our filthy clothes and then headed out to a place that Jenna had found on the Internet called the "Hobbit House" which is a bar run entirely buy dwarfs. There were 14 of them working there in total, they were so friendly, and one named Edward, sat and chatted to us for most of the evening. There were two bands that played and they were fantastic too, Jenna fell in love with the lead singer of one of the band, too bad his girlfriend was also in the band :( We had a lovely time in there, the atmosphere was great and we enjoyed many cans of 'Hite', a beer we drunk in Korea. As we were ready to leave we met two Irish men and their Filipino girlfriends and they invited us to come and have another drink with them. They were all pretty drunk but I felt immediately safer being with men and locals in this crazy city. Once the riverside bar closed, we looked to move on, just as one of the blokes realised that his two thousand pound phone had just been nicked, we tried to gt it back but realised it had well gone. From this moment on i will keep everything in my padlocked bag! We all hopped into their drivers car in search of another bar. Jenna was desperate for the toiled do on the way we had to stop off at a casino, where we were searched before we could enter. I wasn't allowed to enter in my flip flops, so had to wait by the entrance whereby, about a hundred me approached me asking "How much?" Assuming that I was a prostitute. I was pleased to see Jenna again and get back in the car. We drove around for ages but all the decent looking bars looked closed so we decided to go and have a drink and the blokes hotel bar. They were clearly very successful business men. They were both middle aged, overweight and extremely unattractive jet their Filipino girlfriends were 20 something, slip beautiful girls. How does this happen, I guess they enjoyed being smothered with girts and staying in the "Edsa Shangri-la" at 130 quid a night. Jenna and I ran about taking in the luxury of the place and using the luxury toilets. We all shared a few more drinks and as the sun rose decided that we better be heading home!
Farewell Korea!
I am leaving the land of kimchee, a country full of people who really never see a foreigner like me. A county where males and females are still treated so differently and almost everything I do is considered rude or offensive. A county where I have never seen people work so hard or kids be at school for so many hours a day, or so many little dogs in clothes! In a way coming to Korea was a real test of character. I left my house, job, my family and most of my friends behind and came away with out much of a clue as to what to expect. With Jenna and I living an hour and a half apart and with no phones I felt so alone during my first week but I soon found my feet and in the end have loved my experience here. I am so grateful for my lovely friend Kat and the very motivated organised Jenna, without her I probably would never have got round to doing half the things that I have done. I certainly made it here so I now have confidence that I can make it anywhere.I have experienced many different sights, aromas and tastes, some I hope to forget, others I hope that I will treasure forever. I am leaving my amazing boyfriend Brian, who I will miss incredibly until the next time we meet, I am leaving all my new friends, fantastic fellow teachers and my beautiful children whom I love so much, and will probably never see or even hear of again. It makes me so sad that I will never now how they turn out in this crazy county, they are all so young I only hope that I have made an impact on their lives and that I have helped and that some day in the future they will think of their old 'Emily Teacher'. I never realised that this would be so hard!
Over the past few weeks I have been my usual busy self, I will just give you the briefest notes:
I eventually got to see pirates of the Caribbean- at worlds end, I really enjoyed it and Jack Sparrow was his usual crazy but hilarious self.
On the 6th of June was Korean Memorial day, so Brian and I went to stay in a luxury hotel for the night (only cost ten quid each) and make the most of our day off. We spent the evening using the jacuzzi, hot-tub, steam room and luxury showers, using all the expensive body lotions, watching movies and eating pizza in bed. It was very fun, and to top it off Brian presented me with a beautiful ring to wear while I am travelling so as not to forget him. Don't worry it is not for 'that' finger, it fits perfectly on my middle finger and the stone identically matches the stones in the ring I wear on my other hand, which I got for my 16th birthday from my parents. We spent the next day swanning around Shinsegae. I got a lovely skirt for the equivalent of 3 quid and we came home! And I was also thrown two parties. One on a Saturday night were just my teachers and I went out for food and drinks then we had a party at school with Alyssa, Mr Kim, the receptionist and everyone who was at the first party. We actually had a BBQ and it was delicious, char grilled sum-gyp, with all the trimmings...yum. It was such a nice thing for them to do. Mr Kim was on his best behaviour so I only had Alyssa to get frustrated with (oh she is such a greedy lazy girl). I also got persuaded that I should come in on Monday to help out the new teacher, I really didn't think I would have the time but agreed nevertheless as I want to make sure that he knows what he is doing with my precious children! I also eventually managed to organise Mr Kim to take me to the immigration office to hand back my 'alien card' and get an exit order so I can actually get out of Korea!
This weekend I spent a lot of time packing, sorting out stuff to send home and cleaning my room, it looks so miserable and bear with out all my pictures and ornaments and candles. It remind me of how ugly the room was before I moved in.
On Saturday I went out for a farewell night with Brian, Matt, Kristen, Kat and Jenna. We went to, the busy and very densely populated with 'weiguks' – foreigners, Itaewon. We were looking for a nice Thai place but in the end decided on an Indian buffet. It was pleasant, but rather expensive for what we got. Following our meal we found a nice little bar and got our own little alcove section where we shared a couple of bottles of wine before catching the last train home. On Sunday I spent an emotional day trying to pack up the last of my stuff then Brian took me out to 'Outback' for a nice meal, it was hard to fight back the tears thinking of it being our last meal out, as I made my way through my bowl of Chicken and Shrimp pasta.
Friday was supposed to be my last day at school, so I said goodbye to my older classes, which was pretty hard, especially for the ones who I have taught everyday for the past ten months. However I knew it would always be harder saying goodbye to my babies. So I came in to school on Monday morning to find that the new teacher had still not arrived, I was angry as the only reason I agreed to come in was to show him the ropes, never the less I taught my classes and hugged good bye to my beautiful little babies. A few cried but I think that I was the biggest cry baby of all. Some of the other teachers were crying too, so I didn't feel too silly. I got many thoughtful gifts and card from both kids and parents with such lovely thoughts. I also made them all little cards and gave them candies, chocolates and glow in the dark stars then I left Wonderland for the last time. Tears were streaming down my face as the lift took me down from the fourth floor to the ground. I had a busy day ahead of me so I quickly changed my mind-set and got on with my day, taking boxes to the post office, sent my brother, Greg's, 21st birthday package and continued to pack and re pack my bag!
One traumatic thing I realised was when I came to tidy and clean my kitchen area and came across 23 Baskin' Robins spoons, oh dear, no wonder I have put on weight! I was soon feeling better when I went to my Korean bank to close my account and I discovered that I had sent more than five grand home to go towards my travel. Better than I thought actually considering I have been not living frugally and have missed out on my bonuses and my flight being paid for etc.
Well it is Monday night now and I have to be up at 5 am tomorrow morning and I must admit this email is a mess but to be honest I am an emotional wreck, crying at most opportunities, so I am sure I will update you with a proper reflection soon. I can reflect on the good times and my fantastic future ahead of me. Basically I will summarise, after living and teaching English in Korea for the past 9 months with my good friends Kat and Jen, I can't believe that in less a day I will be embarking on a life changing journey around the world. The real journey, what I have wanted to do this ever since I was a little girl, I blame my parents for taking me to exotic locations as a sprog. The next time I will get to a computer will probably be in Bangkok or maybe even the Philippines. I really can't believe it, my real travelling is about to begin....
An my time in Korea draws to an end, my plans are now as follows:
As of the end of May 2007:
Jenna and I leave Korea on the 12th of June to go back to Bangkok then on to the Philippines in Manila and an island called Bacollad (or something similar) for two weeks, staying with Jenna's family.
Then the first part of my journey starts: Kat meets us on the 7th of July in Bangkok and then we see a bit more of Thailand, Chang-Mai, then along the coast of Thailand to the Ko-Chang Islands, then to Cambodia on the 14th of July, Vietnam on the 6th of August then back to Bangkok on the 29th August.
Then at the beginning of September the second part: we are all going to Australia (Sydney) to meet our other uni mate Jonny for a couple of weeks then to New Zealand on the 13th of September until the 4th of October (again traveling and visiting friends). Then back to Australia, meeting Jenna's sister Naomi, and hopefully our great friend Sarah, maybe Becky and hopefully Mark to travel along mainly the East cost of Australia (hoping to do lots of snorkeling, surfing and sight seeing) Then meeting up with friends again and spending Christmas with Kat's family.
Part three: is leaving Australia in time to spend New Year on a beach in Bali (how lush) then flying to Singapore. The last part of the trip is still pretty undetermined, I think that it kinda depends how much money we have left, but we hope to then travel Malaysia and Northern Thailand before going back (yet again) to Bangkok and flying home 20th Feb 2008.
The Korean Folk village
Saturday 26th May.
I had been out last night with some work friends for a sushi dinner and I don't think that this one particular slimy raw fish had particularly agreed with me, so when I woke up at 6.30 this morning I certainly didn't feel like going into Seoul. However Kat, Jenna and I had all booked ourselves in to see the doctor (an English speaking one) to organise getting more malaria tablets and our Japanese Encephalitis injections. I am glad that it is all sorted but it did end up costing me 100,000 Won (sixty GBP-Rahhh) We enjoyed a delicious western lunch in a 'sandwich shop' (I thought they were unheard of in Korea) and then headed off to Suwon to visit the Korean Folk village there. When we arrived in Suwon we found out that we had just missed the bus to take us there, so sat in the sun and waited for the next one for the next hour, and then almost missed that one too. Luckily the traffic was busy and we managed to run and catch up with it. The bus was only supposed to take 5-10 minutes, however it was more like an hour before we arrived. Anyway it was a great place when we got there, much bigger than I had imagined. Apparently it is 243 acres, with more than 260 houses from different regions and set in the culture of the later Joseon Dynasty. There was a river running through the middle of the whole thing, whereby you had to cross via a thin stone bridge or stepping stones, I must admit I was rather nervous when I crossed it as I didn't fancy falling into the filthy looking river despite the hot day.
We had left it quite late in the day to actually get to the village so once we were there we had to rush straight to the performing area so we could see the last showing of the performances that day. We watched two young and tiny girls doing some acrobats and jumping amazingly high on the Traditional Korean Seesaw, it was hilarious to remember how useless Jenna and I were when we had a go on one back when we went ice fishing. We then watched a man walking and doing acrobatics on a single rope trapeze. While watching this performance a woman actually took off with my bag, it had got tangled around the wheels of a push chair and she had unknowingly dragged it through the dirt for about 20 feet before I had managed to catch up with her. My bag is now scratched and filthy. Nevertheless I enjoyed the show. The final show we chose to watch was 'horseback riding' whereby horses ran around a ring while nimble little men did acrobatics, such as headstands, and shooting impressively at targets with arrows. It was all rather amazing.
We had wanted to take a ferry boat onto the river or just a donkey-led cart but there was simply not enough time left in our busy day, so we then headed back to catch our bus, only to find that we had missed the last one by just ten minutes. Just as we were giving up hope, we saw a service bus at the other end of the car park, heading back to Suwon, we ran as fast as our sweaty legs could carry us and thankfully made it, over two hours later I was eventually home. Brian and I had planned to see 'Pirates of the Caribbean-At worlds end', unfortunately so had hundreds of other people and all the tickets had sold out for the next three showings :( Instead watched 'Next' staring Nicolas Cadge, whereby he can see the future, it was quite clever but I didn't like the ending. Luckily on Monday night I managed to get tickets to see Pirates of the Caribbean, despite its bad reviews I really enjoyed it, I found it pretty hilarious and certainly a lot better than Spiderman 3 which I dragged myself to see last month.
Buddha's Birthday and an enlightening Temple stay.
19th-10th May.
Whatever you do, wherever you go in Korea, you will find some of the ancient Buddhist heritage which has dominated and influenced every aspect of Korean life for the past 1,700 years. When I first came to Korea I heard about 'Temple stays' and have wanted to do one ever since. However our time here has been so action packed since that it is one of those things that we kept saying next month, next month. However with just four weekends left in Korea we really sort out our priorities and decide what we were going to do With it being Buddhas birthday the next week we decided that this weekend would be perfect. So a few weeks back Jenna, Kat, Brian, Matt, Kristen and I all booked our selves into the lotus lantern temple for the weekend.
We were up bright and breezy and then took the long bus journey out of Incheon, out of Seoul to an island called 'Kuk Je Seeon Won'. By the time we got there we were starving, so tried to find somewhere to eat. Some school girls with good English said that we could get something to eat at the market but that there were no kimbap houses there :( They also joked with us that there was a hamburger place round the corner, not nice considering how hungry we were, they all screamed with laughter when all of our little eyes lit up! In the end Brian and Matt had Kimchee-jige (spicy soup) and I ended up buying some rather horrible snacks from a local shop. After all this faffing about we actually had to rush to get to the place by 2 pm.
We found a taxi place and hung around for ages while the driver finished his game of cards, Then the 6 of us squeezed into ONE taxi (that is right SIX...and the driver makes seven). It was a very interesting ride, we even passed a police care who didn't seem to batter and eyelid. When we got to the temple, we opened the door and basically exploded bags n all into the drive way. Despite us being 5 minutes 'late' no one else was there yet. We got showed to our rooms by a Russian Monk, who had lived there for four years and informed us, in his very hard to understand accent, that we had free time until 4. We put on some traditional gray 'trainee monks temple robes', which was basically some baggy elasticated wasted trousers, that were Velcro round the ankle, a plain gray T.shirt or long sleeved top, and a button up baggy waistcoat. Socks were to be worn at all times and as you can probably picture we all looked very attractive, but I must say; it really was very comfortable attire!!!
The place was simple and clean, but as you can imagine, very minimalistic. Sleeping on the floor, only allowed to drink water or Korean tea and no luxuries. Obviously Monks don't watch television, except for a Dharma video or documentary. I found out that this was because should only have attachment to their own minds, and watching T.V. might excite envy, possibly even the intention to steal, in the mind of another person. It also looks bad if they own things like this, as they mainly live on charity, and growing their own foods etc. They try to be a source of inspiration to others, to not have any luxurious belongings. They also don't have any gold or silver jewelry and only use money given to them by donations (they don't need banks or credit cards).
The temple was in the middle of nowhere, which was nice, surrounded by flooded rice paddies. We spent our couple of hours, making tea, nosing through the books on Buddhism and exploring and taking pictures of the grounds. I was delighted to find two of their dogs! The gardens were wild but pretty, with lots of wild daisies. There was also a lovely pond full with huge coy-carp. By four o'clock two Canadian guys arrived and a Korean couple. The ten of us were called by the 'gong' and joined the Russian Monk in one of the temples for a lesson on how to bow/pray properly. It was actually pretty difficult, and hard getting onto your feet for the hundredth time with no hands! Inside the temple was beautiful, the ceiling beautifully decorated, three statues at the front, interesting pictures on the wall and lots of candles and flowers.
Lotus flowers were everywhere as a symbol of purity, spiritual growth and enlightenment. I read in the back of my chanting book that the lotus flower can grow in any conditions including a muddy swamp and that they grow towards the warmth and light of the sun, just as humans naturally grow. The simple but beautiful life of a lotus flower can be compared to that of a Buddha and they give happiness to those who see them. The three Buddha statues were positioned on a lotus base and there were lotus flower lanterns covering the ceilings. We all got given a kneeling cushion and a book with all the prayers/chants that we would be doing and their translations. The monk was incredibly hard to comprehend, and was really very nervous so to be honest I couldn't really understand much of his talk and it seemed to go on for hours. I was wobbling around allover the place, trying not to make it too obvious I was uncomfortable, after standing so long. I was very grateful when the evening meal bell rung at six o'clock.
Most monks are vegetarian, so I was literally expecting Kimchee and rice, but was pleasantly surprised when I got there and there were lots of tasty side dishes, such as mushrooms, aubergine and pumpkin. We all ate well then were to wash our dishes in silence.
We were then joined by three more Korean male visitors and then we all went back to the temple for more bowing and chanting. The chanting actually sounded really nice, very peaceful and relaxing. We all gathered in the garden for some traditional tea, I was surprised that washing the cups was just a case of pouring hot water into them (how hygienic I must say) and to make the tea he had to use 4 small tea pots with different temperatures of water in them. Or cups had no handles and were the size of egg cups but the tea was refreshing.
After that we met with a Swiss Monk. He informed us that the lotus lantern temple was mainly inhabited by foreign monks, but that he had actually lived there for 10 years! His English was very good and I found him very interesting and informative. He interested me by saying that Buddhism isn't actually a religion, and that there are no fairy tail stories about miracles or things that are difficult to believe and that they don't 'worship' any higher beings. They simply dedicate their lives to finding good in themselves and living their life as good, nice people. As you know I have a factual mind and need science, I don't follow any religion, however I respect religion and think that it often helps guide people into being good people and gives people faith. The idea and reality of Buddhism is the sort of thing that I think I understand the most.
We were taught about Mahayana Buddhism or Northern Buddhism as it is sometimes called, which is only found in Korea, China, Japan, Tibet and Mongolia. There are different types of Buddhism in other countries too. It has about 365 million followers (6% of the worlds population) and is the fourth largest religion, after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism (However some people argue that it is bigger than Hinduism)
He went into all about the History of Buddhism and I found out that Buddhism was founded around the fifth century BC in India by a prince called Siddharth Gautama (the Buddha himself- the spiritual father) and about how he was raised on the Indian boarder. Basically he was protected from the sadness and realities of the outside world, so one day he decided to go outside the palace walls to see what the real world was like. He saw four images that changed his life, the first was a leper with no ears or nose suffering and begging on the street side, the second was an old man all hunched over and trying to walk down the street with aid of a walking stick, the third was a corpse and a coffin procession and the final image was a Monk meditating under a tree, with hardly any possessions. These images shocked him; so that night he decided to leave his wife, new born baby and life of luxury in the palace and go and find enlightenment. He starved himself and became really thin (only eating 2 grains of rice a day) He decided to sit under a tree until he found enlightenment. By this time he was 35 years old and it took him four days to realise that starving himself was too far fetched, he thought back to his life in the palace and knew that this was too luxurious so decided to live somewhere in between. He spent 45 years dedicating his life to the teachings of his incites. Buddhism no longer exists in India but according to information and claims by Indians, Korea is the country that preserves the original, or at least the closest to the original Buddhism. With its attempts to resolve what it sees.
We were then given an incite into how to meditate and how to clear the mind. It was more difficult than it sounds, we sat cross legged on the floor and were to breath through our noses and count to ten, concentrating on nothing but the counting. We then had forty minutes of meditation. I struggled to keep my mind concentrating solely on the counting, I would think about what I had been doing that day or what I would be doing tomorrow and noticing every movement or shuffle that those around me made, and then trying to control myself from getting the giggles. I was constantly having to start my counting again. At one point I actually counted to 37 with out even noticing. Another problem that I had was a sharp twinge in my back and that my legs were aching from being crossed for so long. I was pretty useless at it to be honest and decided there and then that I couldn't possibly become a Dharma woman!
Retreating back to the room I was greedy to learn more about this fascinating way of life. As I said before there were lots of books. So this time I eagerly read all about Buddhism being a dharmic, non-theistic religion and philosophy. Finding out that it means 'Enlightened One' or 'Awakened One'. It also has three main virtues and they are: 1. Infinite Wisdom, 2. Perfect purity and 3. Universal Compassion. Buddhist practice and study the mind, the place where we actually were was called 'Seon' which means 'meditative absorption' or 'silently thinking'
We all were to be in bed with lights out at 9.30 and my room was actually dark, for the first time in 9 months I couldn't see a thing. I could hear snoring from other rooms and poor Brian and Matt couldn't sleep a wink because of it. However I fell to sleep surprisingly quickly considering that this was the earliest I had been to bed in years.
I was strangely woken up by a phone call at 3.40am, a Korean man with the wrong number, however just as I had put the phone down I heard the morning gong, calling us to prayer. By four o'clock we all, but Jenna, gathered in the temple and began our bows. We accidentally left Jenna behind, in the sleepy panic we were all in, she was not impressed, when she arrived mid bows. At six o'clock we were called again for breakfast. My stomach turned when I saw it was exactly the same as we had had for dinner. I had a few spoons full of rice but couldn't face any of the side dishes at that time in the morning. At 7am we went for more meditation, this time it was actually easier as my back twinge was less painful after a good nights sleep. The remainder of the day we practiced, Chinese, Korean and English Calligraphy in the teaching room and also did some weeding and gardening in the grounds. We had lunch then it was time to put our normal clothes back on and clean our rooms. Just before we left we joined the head monk for some tea and then said our farewells. The long journey back was the least fun part. We stopped off to get our weekly food shop on the way home too, and I spent the evening reflecting on what I had learnt (although I was extremely tired for suck an early awakening).
Thursday 24th May – Buddha's Birthday!
The whole of Korea have a holiday to commemorate Buddha's birthday. Last night Brian, Matt, Kristen, Kat, Jenna, Alyssa (Aghhh) and I all went out in order to have a few drinks for the sake of Buddha, and the night ended up with us all in a Nore Bong, singing our little hearts out and dancing on the back of the sofas until 4am.
We all woke up early that morning, delighted to have a day off school, we had had plans to go to the park, wonder around town and perhaps have a picnic or at least lunch outside in the sun. The weather had been gorgeous for ages......BUT just like in England, as soon as we have a day off the heavens open and prevents us for happily doing our plans. Instead we all headed to Bupyong in the torrential rain, then Brian and I met up with Adam and Sophia (some Canadian friends) and we all spent the afternoon eating Jim-Duk, which was incredibly spicy, but certainly warmed us through, and was nice as were were all soaked to the skin.
Teachers Day and a works night out.
"Teachers Day" (15th May)
As this supposedly 'fun' day approached my hatred for Mr Kim spiraled almost out of control. For weeks the teachers had been going on about Teachers day, which is a holiday here in Korea whereby teachers at public schools don't even have to go to school and kids bring cards or gifts to say thank you to the teachers that help them and are good to them. Well last week Mr Kim announced that he had sent letter home to all parents 'ordering' then not to bring gifts into school! I actually laughed when he told me as I thought it was supposed to be a joke, but when I looked around to see no one else laughing I realised it was real. Why would someone do that? Isn't it up to the parents and if they want their children to bring gifts? It is a day to show appreciation and if their kids like their teachers and if the kid is doing well in school surely it is okay to treat us? Anyway that is Mr Kim for you, to make matters worse he organised a teachers workshop for the Korean teachers after school on 'Teachers day' too. I just can't believe this guy. Just because he doesn't have a life, he thinks no one else has. I wish these people would stand up to him instead of just quiting. He will never learn.
Despite the teachers day scrooge, We still got many beautiful red carnations (the flower of thanks in Korea) Cakes, pastries, fruit, chocolate, teas, vitamin drinks, I also got gift packs of shampoos, body washes, toothpastes etc that I will unfortunately never use. My favourite things however were lovely little hand written cards and pictures (I will keep these as fond memories of my kids). I will also keep my gift of a beautiful silk embroidered scarf from one of my little four year old boys.
I'm sure that for anyone to understand, you would have to work with Mr Kim to empathise and realise what a horrible and intensely awful person he is, but really take my word for it. He will be ingrained forever on mind as someone I hate...Now hate is a harsh word but I do hate him. I spend my days thinking of other words to describe this rat of a man, I can't say that it is a very constructive way to spend my time but I can firmly say Mr Kim is someone that I have intense revulsion against, no empathy whatsoever and is someone who I want to avoid forever. Thinking back to my Psychology degree: According to evolutionary psychologists, hate is a rational reaction to people whose interests consistently conflict with one's own. Hate is an emotion, hence it serves the protective mode of a person. People whose behavior threatens one's own survival interests are to be hated. Ha ha, I would hardly say he threatens my survival but he certainly threatens my stress levels on a daily basis. I know I should spend far less of my time and energy thinking about him!!!
17th May.
To 'thank us' for all our hard work recently Mr Kim invited us to a night out for Sum-gyp-sal. It was actually pretty delicious and as the boss was paying we ordered lots of side dishes and beer and sojo. Brian being Brian was wasted by 8.30 and managed to escape home but the rest of us got dragged off to a Nore-bong. I was adamant not to sing (without my singing partner Dave) but Alyssa, who assured me was very good, dived in and sung the first four very off key songs to get things started, I will never enjoy Cindy Lauper's “Time after time again”. The bus drivers (who we can usually rely on to get drunk and sing hilariously for us all) all went home early and the rest of us were feeling rather shy, tired and we certainly hadn't had enough sojo running through our veins to make us confident enough to sing. A few people braved it and sung Korean songs, all of which sound the same to me, but most of us quietly talked and avoided eye contact with Mr Kim, who was trying to make us sing. Judy, one of my favourite Korean teachers actually made me cry because she was telling me how she would miss me and how hard it will be on the kids. I will miss them all soooo much and it pains me inside that I am lying to them all about my reasons to leave. I know that I had planned this all from the very start but I didn't realise just how hard it would be!
Visiting the DMZ.
Saturday 12th May
An incredibly early start. It was raining 'Cats and Dogs' as some might say, but we eventually found our way to USO, which is a company run by the United Services. Brian had gone with them a few months back and said going with the army was definitely the best way to do it. The bus was incredibly hot but despite the rain we had a really interesting day.
When we arrived at 'Camp Bonifas' the first thing we did was we had our passports checked then we were able to board the bus with an incredibly quick speaking American soldier ( I could hardly understand a word).
Secondly we arrived at 'Ballinger Hall Visitor Briefing Center', where we basically got told all the rules, history and finally signed our lives away, knowing that we were going into a war zone and that the solders with us held no responsibility for our death. We got a visitor badge to wear.
We passed a statute that was there to honor those whose service and dedication has led to 30 years of freedom and peace.
The basic history of the North and South Korea divide is: After World War 2 the Korean peninsula was divided into a communist North and a democratic South, with a border at the 38th parallel. Then the Soviet-supported North invaded and after a few years of fighting the ‘front’ was roughly where it had began. The deal they struck to end the war stipulated that both sides should retreat 2km from the front, and so ever since (over 50 years) there is a 4km wide zone separating the 2 countries, and a million soldiers on either side just in case things turn nasty. On the Western side there is a unique place called the JSA (Joint Security Area), whereby the two Korea's can come and discuss matters. Meetings take place in one of three small blue buildings that are half in North Korea and half in South Korea. The table they sit at is also on the border. Both sides have guards at this point who never make eye contact or communicate.
Outside the room there was a huge North Korean building (called Panmun-Gak) with a North Korean guard standing outside. To the Americans and the South Koreans he was known as 'Bob'. We were able to enter the room that had North Korean guards just the other side of the door. There were two South Korean guards inside the building to 'Protect us', and stop any idiots from going through the door into North Korea and indeed to try to stop any North Koreans from coming into the room while we were there. Our Army officer told us a story about how when president bush came to visit the DMZ, while he was in the very room we were in, two armed North Koreans came in: and one blew his nose on the Korean flag an the other proceeded to clean his boots on the American flag. Obviously this is the utmost disrespectful thing to do, but no one could really do anything about it. Since then the material flags have been replaced with Plastic flags and they are encased in frames. When we came out of the building we were to wait on some steps for a few minutes while the other group went into the building. We were given strict instructions to wait quietly and not get off the steps etc. Suddenly I heard a bellowing shout, I jumped out of my skin as I heard..”Don't lie to me boy, I saw it in your hand” I realised that a stupid English boy had decided to get off the steps and have himself a cigarette, what an idiot. He had also been the one on the bus asking the solder stupid questions like “is your gun real” and “If I ran into North Korea would I get shot”. I couldn't believe someone would be so defiant, what an embarrassment to England he was. After that he was banned from leaving the bus. Ha!
After the JSA we had a look at North Korea from a hillside. We couldn't see much, mainly small controlled South Korea villages, However we did see a North Korean flagpole (of 160m) which they built after South Korea had built a very tall one. The far taller North Korean flagpole is the tallest in the world, which just demonstrates how effective their particular style of running the country is. We also visited a spot where there was a plaque, that stated:
“on July 27, 1953, in the small building approximately 1000 meters to the front of this marker, representatives of the United Nations Command, the Korean People's Army, and the Chinese Peoples Volunteers signed a Military Armistice that brought the Korean War to a halt. From the initiation of hostilities, on July 25, 1950, until the Armistice the war cost Korean people untold treasure, anguish and the lives of approximately 150,000 members of the Republic of Korea armed forces. United Nations Command forces suffered approximately 40,000 causalities in the fight for liberty. Thanks to these sacrifices the Republic of Korea is a Free and democratic country!”
There were 22 flags around the plaque. Of course England was one of them. North Korea looked far barer than South Korea, with hardly any trees and it was lined with pylons that stopped any information from the rest of the world getting in. It is strange to think that they don't see world news, or have Internet access or can even communicate with people from the rest of the world.
We saw a South Korean village, (called Kijong-dong) whereby the army guy told us that only 220 people live there. The residence also have to stay in the village for more than 280 days a year and there is a curfew whereby they have to be inside their houses with lights out, by nine pm. There is only one school in the village, where only 8 pupils attend and 12 teachers teach. Women can marry into the village but men can not come in. It was this village where the South Korean flag was flown, and the solider told us that just after the Seoul Olympics, the village actually changed the flag to that of a 'Olympic flag' to show the North Koreans that the Olympics did in fact take place. Despite the North Korean government telling its people that it had been canceled!
We all boarded back on the bus and then stopped at a monument that was paying respects to those who had died in the 1976 Axe Murder Incident. Our soldier informed us that in August 1976 two American soldiers were murdered as they tried to chop down a tree that was blocking their view and one of the observation points. The incident was said to have almost started world war three!
Through the bus window we also saw the 'Bridge of no return', which is basically a bridge that crosses the Sacheon river, which forms part of the boarder between the two Korea's, in the town of Panmunjom. It was about two car lanes in width, but there are barricades at each end so that no one can cross it. When the Korean war ended in 1953 prisoners from both sides could choose whether to cross the bridge into North Korea, or South Korea and where they wanted to live. The condition was, however, that once they had crossed over they could never return again to the country that they had left behind. Both sided of the bridge again had military patrols on their respective sides to stop any people trying to cross.
Finally we were taken to a viewing point where we could supposedly see right over North Korea and use the binoculars to even look into the little villages. However, because of the rain, couldn't see a thing but a white haze :(
Just before we left we visited a gift shop where we could even buy some of “the fence from the DMZ” basically a small bit of barbed wire on a plaque! People went wild for the 'I've been to the DMZ' t.shirts and all the other usual tacky souvenirs, I came away with nothing but my memories and stories.
We exited the DMZ territory, at the next stop we were given yellow-hard hats and followed a guide into one of the tunnels that the North Koreans had built. We in fact went into the “third tunnel” which was found on the 17th of October 1978. An underwater gush during an explosion revealed its form. It was located just 4km South of the DMZ and only 52 km from Seoul. It was considered far more threatening than tunnels 1 and 2 (which we didn't enter) because it was about 2 meters in diameter all the way through and 1635m long with 5 exits in the Southern end and was designed so that 30,000 armed soldiers could go through it per hour. The walls had been amateurishly painted in coal dust so the North Koreans could claim that they were looking for coal but must had taken a wrong turn. If they were caught. However Korea is a land of very little coal so it was a little suspicious don't you think? It was only recently that they admitted building it and at the same time put in a formal demand for a share of the tourism receipts! It was wet in there but very impressive thinking of the work it must have taken these me. We could touch the walls and we got remains of the coal dust that they had used to discise the place. We were not allowed to take any pictures down there and when we got to the part that must have been North Korea we were met by more barbed wire, video cameras and more steal doors to stop people from trying to get in (like anyone in their right mind would want to)
When we made our way out we also stopped off at a museum where we were shown a video 'Panmunjeom of yesterday and today' that portrayed DMZ as a symbol of reunification and their hopes for the future as one Korea again. To be honest I though the video was ridiculous, it seemed to concentrate more on the wildlife that lived there more than anything else. We also looked around a small museum, which i found quite interesting and explained a few things. South Koreans really do indicate a strong desire to see the Korean peninsula united again, a vote for the future so to speak. It has been almost 50 years so when and how this happens are anyone’s guess, but you certainly get the impression that it’s kind of inevitable, eventually. I hope so, so many people lost family and it is sad to see a county with such strong family bonds and think of them being divided. Although I am still very intrigued to see the real North Korea in its current communist state.
Resignation Day
Thursday the 12th May 2007.The day dawned that I had been dreading since even before I arrived: The day I was to hand in my official notice of leaving!!!
I had written out my letter in the week, stating my appreciation for the opportunities I had had and what a joy it had been working at such a wonderful establishment, but then stated my regret that I had to leave due to a job offer back in England that I simply couldn't turn down. I feel like a dreadful person lying, but I also know that this is what I always knew I had to do and I could think of no other way out of it. This is a far more valid excuse as to why I am leaving rather than, I am off travelling!!
So I dropped the letter on Mr Kim's desk, and darted into my classroom, so that he could read it at his own leisure and to give him time to think. When my class was over I approached him to talk about the issue. At first he was saying that “it is not possible for me to leave” then after a long talk he eventually said that it was ok and he could understand, but that I had to find a good replacement for me. To which I agreed. Just two days later he decided to employ the “fat” guy that he had refused to employ to replace Dave, so that is a big relief for me!
